<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The minhag in many shuls is that immediately after shacharis on erev Rosh Hashanah, the congregation disperses into various groups for hataras nedarim. Three of the worshippers, usually chosen randomly, sit on a row of chairs, and another worshipper or sometimes a group of worhippers stand before them and recite the long nusach for hataras nedarim which begins &ldquo;shimu noh rabosei dayanim mumchim ....&rdquo;. These &ldquo;dayanim mumchim&rdquo; can somtimes be the biggest amei haaretz, who do not even have a clue of the halachos of hataras nedarim. At least once a year, some people have the &ldquo;honour&rdquo; to be called &ldquo;dayanim mumchim&rdquo;! This is unless one follows the opinion of Rav </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Eliyahu Dovid Rabinowitz-Teomim, (the &ldquo;</span><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Aderet&rdquo;) who wrote that one should omit these two words!</span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" align="left"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">It is customary to blow the shofar at the end of every weekday shacharis service during Elul with the exception of erev Rosh Hashanah, even if it occurs on a Friday. However the instruction in the &ldquo;Singer&rsquo;s Prayer Book&rdquo; which has been the standard siddur used in England since the early 1890s, and was originally authorised by the then British Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler, states that when erev Rosh Hashanah occurs on Friday the shofar is blown. The same instruction is to be found in the edition of this siddur with the commentary of the then British Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. However, despite searching, I have never found a source for shofar blowing on erev Rosh Hashanah occurring on a Friday. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" align="left"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Based on a Midrash Tanchuma about a king who remitted taxes in three stages, one learns about fasting in three stages: erev Rosh Hashanah; during the aseras yemai teshuvah; Yom Kippur. When comparing these fasts with this Midrash, in going from stage to stage, these fasts could well be with an increasing intensity. However Rav Yosef Karo in his Shulchan Aruch writes about fasting on erev Rosh Hashanah but omits fasting during the aseres yemai teshurah. Maybe a Talmudic support can be found for giving a specific mention to fasting on erev Rosh Hashanah, (as distinct from the aseres yemai teshuvah), from a Yerushalmi in maseches Taanis (perek 2, halachah 12) where it states that Rav Yonoson fasted every erev Rosh Hashanah.</span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;" align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1930, Rav David Miller of New York, published a book entitled &ldquo;The Secret of the Jew: His Life &ndash; His Family&rdquo; which includes how one can easily build a mikvah in one&rsquo;s house at a very low cost. Although he claimed that this mikvah was also kosher for women, this came under criticism due to the fact that some opinions held that the water was &ldquo;sh&rsquo;uvim&rdquo;. However, as far as a men&rsquo;s mikvah is concerned this criticism is irrelevant, since one can use ordinary tap water. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Men who want to use the mikvah but prefer the privacy of a mikvah in their own house, can study the relevant chapters of Rav Miller&rsquo;s book which appear online: </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><a href="http://www.homemikveh.org/sotj/sotj.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.homemikveh.org/sotj/sotj.html</span></a></span></span></span><strong><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></strong></p>